Flesh and Bones
“Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have
flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
– Luke 24:39
My father who had lived his life as a poor laborer said, “Thanks to this man we eat and live well today.” I could not accept it, but I did not say a word. This man is Park Chung-hee, the father of Park Geun-hye, the former president of South Korea who was impeached in 2017. He seized power through staging a coup and was assassinated while ruling South Korea for 18 years. The blood, sweat, and tears shed by those who under the Park Chung-hee regime are forgotten, and the narrative that South Korea was able to develop due to the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee became a myth. The protagonist of the myth still wanders South Korean society like a ghost. I am gazing quietly at the shadow of the ghost.
Gennaio 03, 2020